Hm. I guess I need to hear the interview. I’m conflicted, and not sure how to feel about all of this.

Mostly, I’m glad my kids are young enough to not really know who he was (or who we were led to believe he was). I don’t know how I would explain ALL of it. There’s just so much.

It may boil down to: “dude was/is a d-bag.” But that statement impacts so many layers: cycling, TDF, current riders, past riders, cancer past, present and future, people who were inspired to their own recoveries, people who were inspired to help other people with their recoveries, people who donated because they just wanted to help…

I had been a LA fan, I resized he was a lier long after most of you did. I feel his lie affects so much more than cycling and the lie has grown out of control. He has destroyed so many people to keep the lie going. I feel most upset about the damage he did to Livestrong, no one will believe in it again. The effects on the many people he inspired with cancer is devastating. I’m glad he severed all connection with Livestrong but it’s too late.

Also I don’t believe this will clean the sport up. After Frank Schleck and Alberto Contador getting a slap on the wrist for their doping that they still deny. I feel like it’s happening all over again.

Keep in mind the Livestrong Foundation has raised over $470 million for cancer research. You can hate Lance or whatever, but he did start that place and cancer is a very important issue to all. I never was a big fan of his personally. Just couldn’t relate to him. I was more of a Jan fan. I was just watching the ’97 Tour. That was pretty awesome and he was only 23. What an eliete, but he did like his pizza and beer there some of those years. I am taping that Oprah Show. Like I said, I was never some big fan, but he was the greatest of that time. I just figured everyone was doing the same thing, and if the people that want it to stop, what better way than to go after an American that won that many in a row. He is the target.

I won’t be watching, I couldn’t care less one way or another. It’s all just media nonsense.

Welcome to the human race everyone, you have to be a huge asshole to excel in any field, be it bike racing, politics, broadcasting, business. And it’s all just business. That’s the way we have chosen to set up the system. We toss the losers in the trash. Sometimes the winners end up there too.

I just hope that Oprah has the balls to ask Lance if all his doping might have led to his ball cancer in the first place. My guess is that she won’t go there, because that makes the creation of Livestrong somewhat of a sham too.

OK, one thing has got to be said — Lance didn’t crush cancer on his own. Cancer treatment has gotten increasingly sophisticated over the years, and many forms of cancer that were once death sentences can now be cured. My own brother-in-law survived late-stage liver cancer. Should he then be forgiven for anything he does with the rest of his life? Having survived cancer does not give you the right to cheat and lie, the way Lance has.

First you’re saying Armstrong “didn’t crush cancer on his own,” suggesting he just got lucky and the advances in cancer treatments did all the work. So you’re devaluing the fact that the guy was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer that then spread to his brain and lungs, that he endured brain and testicular surgeries and chemotherapy?

Guy may have been a d-bag, but debasing cancer is BS.

Does it give him a free pass, not in my opinion. But like I said, there are two things here – he DID beat cancer and he DID provide a huge inspiration to millions of people.

Unfortunately he’s also a d-bag. I don’t think he cheated and lied about cancer. That was pretty much kept to the cycling. And, I don’t think he cheated and lied BECAUSE he had cancer. They are separate issues.

But the two issues are inextricably linked. I remember back when Lance was competing his surviving cancer would come up every time people said he was cheating. And now, whenever we start talking about Lance and Oprah, the issue comes up. You can’t separate the two, and surely while he was cheating people looked the other way (or even helped him) because of his history. That’s part of the reason he was so successful at cheating, because he’d “crushed” cancer.

The Washington Post has an interesting piece on this today. Apparently the US Department of Justice has until Thursday to decide whether to join a whistleblower suit.

….According to USADA’s code, a lifetime ban from competition can be scaled back to no fewer than eight years — and that’s assuming the athlete confesses fully and provides new information that helps USADA ensure clean competition in the future.

That’s the sticking point.

Armstrong, 41, isn’t interested in cooperating unless he can return to competition much sooner. He’s arguing that USADA has the latitude to lessen that penalty, as it did with the cyclists who confessed their own doping in testifying against him in June. They were suspended six months.

Armstrong’s negotiating window with the Justice Department is much shorter. Unless both parties agree to an extension, the Justice Department must decide by Thursday whether to join a whistleblower suit filed by Floyd Landis, another disgraced cyclist who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title.

The suit asserts that Armstrong defrauded the federal government by doping while his team received roughly $35 million in sponsorship revenue from the U.S. Postal Service. Its contract made clear that riders were to compete “clean.” In whistleblower cases, damages are typically tripled.

The suit would be strengthened considerably if the Justice Department gets involved, because Landis would have to bear the legal costs going forward, and it’s not clear what Armstrong can offer in terms of restitution or information.

There’s also the possibility that the US Department of Justice will require him to come clean under oath, and not just on national television.

Hardly seems like Lance wanting to do the “right thing” because his conscience was bothering him.

“Say what you want about the guy, for him to sit down to a three hour interview with Oprah took real ball.”

I don’t know. Put yourself in his place, I’d probably want to get this off of my chest too. Given the circumstances, I’d probably want to have Oprah interview me rather than 1000 other celebrities that I can think of.

But I’m not judging. I may make light of the situation… but not judging.

One thing Lance knows is America always forgive athletes/celebrities. America forgave Ben for rape, Ray Lewis for murder, L.T is still a Hall of Famer despite admitting to using cocaine before every game and sleeping with under aged girls. New England still has their rings even after getting caught cheating. Athletes have done horrible things, much worse than doping and they are still loved. In a few years LA will be back on top just like the rest of them. Thats why he is doing this. He knows he will make money again.